With a population of more than 1.2 billion, India is the world’s largest democracy. Over the past decade, the country’s integration into the global economy has been accompanied by economic growth. India has now emerged as a global player.
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With a view to improve the transport
network system, Uttar Pradesh core Road Network Development
Project in India has identified 24,095 km of Core Road
Network (CRN)... Show More + for the development. The Core road development
works will consist of raising the formation level, widening
to a full two lanes from the existing single and
intermediate lane widths, and/or pavement
rehabilitation/strengthening. Road sections with high
volumes of non-motorized traffic will be widened to 10m with
1.5m full paved shoulders. Road stretches crossing urban
areas may also require upgrading to a four lane cross
section, and/or provision for drains, sidewalks and parking
where required. In some cases, new alignments (by-passes
and/or re-alignments may also be required. In view of the
above, UP core road network development project (UPCRNDP)
has been designed. The UPCRNDP will have three Components:
Component 1: Road Improvement Though a total of 1000 km of
road will be widened and upgraded, in phase I four road
corridors are covered totaling about 264 km. Component 2:
Road Safety Initiatives A comprehensive and coordinated
package of road safety sub-components. Component 3:
Institutional Strengthening. This component is likely to
include a program to strengthen PWD asset management of SHs,
MDRs and ODRs, to support the application of IT systems for
human resource management and works budgeting and management
across the PWD organization. The objectives of the study
are: a baseline database containing the environmental and
social features and issues in the immediate vicinity of
proposed road corridor; structures likely to be affected by
the widening/improvement proposal; highlight the social
problems and suggests general and typical mitigation
measures to alleviate social problems that the
project-affected people may face less loss of livelihood,
displacement and loss of access to community facilities etc;
identify key environmental issues and mitigation measures
for negative impacts, as well as enhancement activities for
positive impacts understand the policy and regulatory
framework to guide development of appropriate management
plans to ensure compliance with the applicable national and
state requirements as well as policies of the World Bank
develop resettlement action plan to avoid, reduce or
mitigate likely negative impacts of project and enhance
positive impacts, sustainability and development benefits;
carry out an environmental impact assessment to develop
environmental management plan for each road describing
mitigation measures and enhancement measures to be
implemented as part of the project. Show Less -

Executive Directors approved the
Republic of India's Development Policy Loan (DPL) to
Promote Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Development
in Himachal Pradesh... Show More + in the amount of $100 million on payment
terms and conditions set out in the President's
Memorandum (R2012-0172). Directors expressed support for the
DPL, noting that it is consistent with the priorities of the
Country Assistance Strategy and the South Asia Regional
Strategy. Directors welcomed India's efforts to
leverage International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (IBRD) resources with resources from the Clean
Technology Fund and highlighted the importance of broad
fiscal discipline. Emphasis was placed on the need to
monitor implementation closely and strengthen institutional
capacity. Directors stressed the importance of sharing
lessons learned and called for greater collaboration between partners. Show Less -

Executive Directors approved the loan to
the Republic of India for the Secondary Education Project in
the amount of SDR 322.4 million ($500 million equivalent) on
payment... Show More + terms and conditions set out in the President's
Memorandum. Directors expressed support for the Secondary
Education Project, which was consistent with the Country
Assistance Strategy (CAS) priorities, the South Asia
Regional Strategy and the Education Strategy 2020. The
importance of maintaining a strong focus on monitoring and
improving the quality of secondary education while tackling
equity gaps was highlighted. The Directors also noted the
need for continued capacity building to strengthen the
systems, especially related to fiduciary issues. Show Less -

The Executive Directors approved a
credit for the Uttar Pradesh Health Systems Strengthening
Project for the Republic of India in the amount of SDR 95.9
million (US$152... Show More + million) on the payment terms and conditions
set out in the President's Memorandum. Executive
Directors expressed support for the objective of the
project, which would improve the efficiency, quality and
accountability of health services delivery in Uttar Pradesh
by strengthening the State Health Department's
management and systems capacity. Directors acknowledged that
the project supports one of the most lagging states of
India, which also has the largest population and which
therefore will heavily impact India's achievements
towards the health related millennium development goals
(MDGs). Directors noted the challenging institutional and
governance environment in Uttar Pradesh, and welcomed the
project's focus to build strong accountability
mechanisms in the health system. In addition, they
emphasized the need to closely monitor progress during implementation. Show Less -

The Executive Directors approved the
loan, in the amount of SDR 635.8 million (US$1 billion
equivalent), to the Republic of India for the National Rural
Livelihoods... Show More + Project, on the payment terms and conditions set
out in the President's Memorandum. The Executive
Directors expressed support for the project and its
objectives. They noted the importance of focusing on
inclusive growth, particularly in states with high incidence
of poverty. They also supported the focus on financial
inclusion in India's poorest states and mechanisms to
improve access to public services, giving particular
attention to gender. Directors noted the positive investment
of International Development Association (IDA) resources and
encouraged ongoing efforts to learn lessons from similar
projects. Directors urged close monitoring in
implementation, emphasizing the importance of a strong focus
on governance and accountability. Finally, they welcomed
mechanisms to catalyze more private sector investment in
lagging regions. Show Less -

The Executive Directors approved the
loan, in the amount of US$648 million, to THDC India
Limited, with the guarantee of the Republic of India, for
the Vishnugad Pipalkoti... Show More + Hydro Electric Project, on the
payment terms and conditions set out in the President's
Memorandum. Directors expressed support for the project and
its objectives. They noted the importance of increasing the
share of hydropower in India's electricity generation
capacity while working to strengthen the institutional
capacity of hydropower developers to plan, implement and
operate technically, environmentally and socially
sustainable projects. Directors also noted the comprehensive
treatment of the project risks and expressed satisfaction
with the mitigation measures put in place. They highlighted
the need for a strong focus on management of social and
environmental aspects of the project during its implementation. Show Less -

Executive Directors expressed support
for the objectives and approach of the National Ganga River
Basin Project. They noted the importance of strengthening
institutional... Show More + capacity, providing close implementation
support, and maintaining long term commitment for achieving
the objectives of cleaning and conserving the Ganga river.
They highlighted the importance of tracking direct impacts
of the project, including on a gender disaggregated basis.
Directors noted the risks of the project and expressed
satisfaction with the mitigation measures put in place. They
welcomed and encouraged continued collaboration among
development partners, stressing the importance of
participation of all stakeholders in project execution.
Directors agreed that such large transformational projects
were an appropriate engagement with India. Show Less -

Executive Directors expressed support
for the objectives of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
Project, noting that additional rail transport capacity,
improved... Show More + service quality and higher freight throughput is
crucial to meet India's development needs. Furthermore,
Directors emphasized the importance of monitoring and
developing further the institutional capacity of the
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation to build and maintain
the Dedicated Freight Corridor infrastructure network. They
welcomed the Bank's commitment to a longer term
engagement and recognized that such large scale
transformational support by the Bank will accelerate further
modernization of the rail sector in India. Finally,
Directors urged greater attention to safeguards issues,
effective communication, and gender issues during project implementation. Show Less -

Executive Directors approved the
e-Delivery of public services Development Policy Loan (DPL)
to the Republic of India in the amount of $150 million on
the payment terms... Show More + and conditions set out in the
President's Memorandum (R2011-0052). Executive
Directors expressed support for the DPL. Directors welcomed
the program's benefits for the vulnerable and the poor,
as well as the emphasis on private sector participation.
They noted that the policy areas supported by the loan are
designed to help alleviate constraints to the implementation
of the government's program. Show Less -